Learnings from MY VUELTA

You´ve probably seen my earlier post on challenge accepted. I was on vacation. Well some people asked, me if I am crazy and that they have a different way of taking holidays.

I enjoyed it... My challenge was 620km across the south of Spain. From Alicante region down to Andalusia and roughly 6000 meters to climb, through the Sierra Nevada to Granada, Ronda down to Marbella. Two taxi rides, one accident, one heatstroke, that lind of summarises the trip.

While I was on my bike, facing a couple of challenges, I had some great comparissons to business and our personal development, which I want to share with you. This isn´t a travel blog, but if you want to see some pictures and not want to read the article, just watch the full video on YouTube (10min) or check out my story on Instagram:

My 5 lessons I learned:

First of all, you have to put in the hard work. It's not going to be easy. That's what I knew before as well. Due to my just finished four months intense yoga training, I haven't had time to ride my bike properly to train. So I knew it's going to get hard. So I had only 500, 520km until the day we start the journey. And the journey itself was 621km. You can imagine how my training level with regards to the cycling was. It was almost zero. But when you put in the hard work, eventually you will reach your goal. It´s just a matter of time, when the hard work pays off. And even if we had some obstacles in the way, we made it in the end.

The second thing, what I learned is don't be too brave, too shy or whatever reason you may have to NOT take support. At the end of the third day, we hit a gravel road and there was no other way to avoid it. We had to go there, or take the highway. 10km gravel with a roadbike, is everything else but fun. It was just tough and I had to concentrate to not fell off the bike. Well, the heat, the exhaustion and the sight of the hotel, gave way and I fell off my bike 500 meters before the hotel.

It wasn´t too bad - at least we now know, that the Garmin accident feature really works well. After looking into the route of the next day, my husband decided no way, that we have another more or less 10 km gravelroad to go. He ordered a cab for the next morning, to bring us to a better road. In the first step, I didn´t like that idea, but then I realised, it is just stupid, to go further on that road, which is dangerous and no fun.

How often do you keep going down a path in business, which doesn´t make sense anymore? Or in your personal life? Sometimes it is just easier to take support, or cut the road/path. Bear that in mind, the next time, when it is going to get bumpy on your road.

The third learning was consistency. That was amazing. As said, I didn't have a solid training level at the point when we started the journey. But to show up, consistently each day, riding the bike, bringing the hard work, made it easier from day to day. I felt more relaxed. Well, relax is not the right word, but it was easier to ride the bike. I found my rhythm. I really had fun. I enjoyed the scenery, etc.

That's exactly the same with in business. When you consistently bring in the hard work, eventually you reach your goal and it's going to get easier. Things which you had a hard time in the beginning, suddenly are a piece of cake, because you consistantly worked on it. Consistency is one of the biggest factors to accomplishment and success. When you look at it from the personal development stantpoint, it is the same. Change is never be easy in the beginning, it is messy in the middle, but once you´ve changed your habits, your way of thinking, it is just beautiful in the end. Like the views we had on our ride!

The next thing I learned, that it was a real boost for my self confidence. When we reached our hotel the first day, after 144km, I was exhausted, my back hurt, but i had a huge grin on my face and my heart was filled with self confidence. I thought: "Wow, that was the longest ride I've ever done on my bike and I am still alive." I made it, which gave me that confidence, that what ever lays in front of us, I am sure I am going to rock it. Again, what does that mean in terms of business?

Sometimes we have situations where we don't feel confident to do it, but when you overcome that hurdle, when you overcome that fear and you just put in the work and do it. Eventually you see the results, that boosts your self-confidence and you know straight away, that you can achieve everything you set your mind up to. Self-confidence is the art of self-love and belief in your power.

And last but not least, a really funny story. Well it wasn´t funny at that moment, but it is now.

There's no thing than shortcuts! At the second day my husband had the idea, after 80km to make a shortcut. In principle a good idea, since we still had around 35km to go. However we ended up in a gravel road. No shadow at all, 40 degree, and me with my roadbike and not a lot of water left. With all the bags the bike had 20kg, so when we walked, which we had to a couple of times, it was hard to move. It was a real mental game to do it. not only to keep my mood up, but also to not have an accident. We went really slowly. It took us 1.5 hours to go through that shortcut. If we would have gone the way around, it would have been probably much quicker and less exhausting.

And it's exactly the same in business. Sometimes these shortcuts, look interesting and we try them. But then we face, if we do not spend the time (if we hire not the right people) we gamble with the quality. We are hitting a gravelroad instead of smooth asphalt. It may take longer, we may loose money and even worse reputiation.

When it comes to personal development it is the same. As a coach, I often get the question, if there is a shortcut. Yes there is and there isn´t. It might be shorter, but it may also be harder. Because you need to look at it, you can´t skip it. If you will, it hits you at a later stage, sometimes even harder.

So next time, if someone is offering you a shortcut, be very careful and look into it, before you take it.

My conclusion of the trip:

I really enjoyed it and I absolutely can recommend it. Well, maybe not necessarily in July... It was far too hot and one of our Spanish friends even feared that one of us would die.

The landscape is stunning, the people are just lovely and the roads are usually very quite and good. If you not doing shortcuts, LOL.

It was a great way to train the body and mind. Because it was not only an excercise for the body, it was more mentally. I learned how strong my mind really is and that I can count on my body a 100%.

I hope you could take away some learnings for yourself. Feel free to watch the video on YouTube to check out the route and some of the pictures.

If you now have a calling to work with me, just send me a PN or check out my Website.